Monday, February 17, 2014

I used a Robyn Pandolph layer cake--so there were multiples of every fabric. I chose the peachy flowerdy squares and made 20 blocks--using a 1980s solid for the corners to form petals. I cut my sashing and the setting squares 2-3/4 inches--so each sashing was one-half the width of a petal. Yes, I could have used jelly roll strips, but loved the two greens from my stash and I don't have any green jelly rolls. I'm trying to make a decision and cut the borders. I loved the borders on Jenny's quilts but don't think I want to duplicate hers on this quilt--and with 20 blocks, the quilt has grown larger in size already. Of course, for me, the quilt is about the quilting at least as much as it is about anything else, so I have more decisions ahead. I should say that although I love the pattern, these fabrics are not "me", but they are good for stretching my creativity.

Stop by Judy's blog at Patchwork Times and see what others have on their design wall. (I don't have a design wall right now. My quilt top is just tossed over a chair.)

Yesterday I sat in church watching the back of my sweet friend's vest. The front was quite elaborate with all sorts of cable designs, but it was the back that struck me.

It really caught my interest because it looks like something that would make interesting socks.

I need to find some time to knit a swatch. It's simple knit and purl, but quite interesting.

I'm loving having a holiday from work today--in no small part because I came down with some kind of bug yesterday. So, although I'm not accomplishing as much as I would like in the knitting or quilting departments, at least I don't have to take a sick day. Here the sun has been shining off and on, and we're supposed to reach the 60s today. As I write this, we are at 59.9, so I'm hopeful. I'm also hoping our warmth will work its way to the frozen Midwest and East. This may well be one of those memorable winters that people tell stories about when they've grown old.

Monday, February 10, 2014

I've made a bit of progress on these socks made with Christmas at Downton Lorna's Laces Solemate. These colors are not all that accurate on my computer--what looks reddish brown is actually a deep purple. It's my project for watching Downton Abbey and for watching the Olympics--although I don't know how much I'll be watching the Olympics. I did watch most of the opening ceremony Friday night--awesome performances, but not as awesome as the amount of money spent on the production.

I was able to get the binding on the Autumn Harvest prayer quilt--and took it to church for my friend to sew down the binding on the back while she spends countless hours at a rehab hospital while her husband recovers from heart surgery. She also knits; it's a good time to have these skills.

Here are some details from this quilt. I just love the pattern. It is so adaptable to so many different styles of fabrics. (I first made a quilt from this pattern back in the early 1980s--and I'd like to make several more.)

All the quilting was done one morning on my friend's sit-down Handi-quilter.

Yesterday I cut all these pieces and pieced them.

I have four blocks together and hope to get the rest of them together and unite them with their sashing, and maybe some borders, this week.

The colors don't show up very well. The main fabrics are from a recent Robyn Pandolph line, but the sweet beige solid has been in my fabric collection for close to 30 years and is left over from a pink, beige and white Burgoyne Surrounded lap quilt I made back then and which became a Victory Prayer Quilt. I'm guessing the only way I will ever find another fabric that color is if I dye it myself.

For others who are loving the quilt-like graphics of the Sochi Winter Olympics, here's a link that explains how they are the result of sampling many of Russia's crafts and folk designs.

I love the colors they have chosen. Can you imagine what fun we would have with lines of fabrics in pre-cuts of all these prints?!

Another knitting attempt is to see if I can turn this lace on it's head so I can make this wonderful top-down pattern by Terry Morris from the toes up instead of from the top down. I'm hopeful.

Of course, I also need to find some sweet and lovely rosy or orchidish yarn to use.

I let Knit Picks know that one of the screws for my recently purchased yarn swift was defective and just kind of crumbled and wouldn't screw in enough to secure it, and they are sending me another.

Our third snowstorm for the week fizzled and went elsewhere. While we need the moisture, we've enjoyed our two sunny days of mild temperatures--and all the snow at my place has melted for the first time since late November.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting......P.S.: I've had trouble with parts of this post appearing and disappearing from my blog. I hope that whatever the issue has been, it is fixed now.

Monday, February 3, 2014

I passed it back to Judy without getting any pictures of the quilting. I'll take pictures the next time I see it. I love the way the quilting turned out. All the thread residing in the lovely little coffee filter is what I had to rip out when the bobbin thread got tangled around the little latch on the bobbin--and the machine gave no audible cues that anything was amiss. So, I spent a couple hours frogging!

I ordered this yarn from Craftsy because it was on sale and I've been wanting some "Christmas at Downton" to knit while watching the series. Unfortunately, my yarn took a side trip to visit Grand Prairie, TX (thank you, DHL), so it didn't arrive until today. The Downton yarn is at the bottom--and it's not nearly as beautiful as the colors I see on the TV. Still lovely, however.

DHL must give their customers really, really good prices to get all their contracts. However, my experience is that they do not give high quality service. The warehouse where my yarn started out is just six hours driving time from where I live. It was supposed to be shipped with two day service. So of course DHL sent it to Texas instead.

When I was adopting, I was living in Zuni, and the adoption agency, also in Colorado, shipped my referral to me via DHL. DHL did not deliver to Zuni, so instead of admitting they didn't deliver to Zuni, they carried the package to Albuquerque, mailed it via the postal service, and it took another two days to get to Zuni! Had it been mailed from CO, I would have received it the next day.

Yesterday after church I drove to Socorro to visit my College Girl, and she snapped this picture of the two of us.

(She did a better job than the professionals we paid to do it last summer!)
We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant she suggested, Bodegas. Her tango class danced their final there last December, and she told me I'd like it because it has real cloth tablecloths and cloth napkins. She was right. Good food, and nice tablecloths and napkins--good service too. I miss her, and our visits always feel short, but we talked and talked. There was very little traffic on my long drive home, so I'm thinking the Superbowl parties must have started early.

At this very moment I hear the very, very, very welcome sound of rain on my skylight. It's been well over a month since we've had any measurable rain, so I'm hoping we'll get some as this front moves through. It has been alarmingly dry here in New Mexico.

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